The idea for a project-based, cross-semester teaching format was born in the Social Management (Soma) degree programme last summer.

In her course, the lecturer Anja Bachmann-Duscha used Communication policy and advertising provided the initial impetus. There, the students were tasked with designing special event formats and carrying them out during the project days from 18 to 20 December. This was an unusual task and also an unfamiliar examination format. The students in the 5th semester of Social Management rose to the challenge. The result was a multifaceted and diverse programme.

The event kicked off with a documentary film about graduates and fields of work for social managers. In the cinema seminar room, not only did the popcorn taste good, but there was also plenty of food for thought in view of the diverse professional biographies after graduation.

On Monday afternoon, the students invited guest speaker Susann Seifert (Erlebe was geht gGmbH). After her inspiring keynote speech, all participants were able to fully utilise their creative potential in a city game on the topic of social space orientation in Nordhausen.

In the "special kind of campus game", the students pushed themselves to their limits with some of the puzzles, but still managed to reach the goal together. In a subsequent appreciation activity, the students took up the traditional tools, paper and pen, to thank over sixty employees of the university, who are rarely visible to them, for their work.

On Tuesday afternoon, the lecture theatre was transformed into a stage for a quiz show. This showcased many of the students' talents and specialised knowledge. The next day began with a Writing workshop for charity. This allowed students to look beyond the confines of the university, as it involved writing personal letters to people living in an elderly care centre in Nordhausen. Over fifty letters will reach the hands of older people in the coming days. Following this activity, the seminar rooms became wonderfully loud as the students developed a special discussion format that focussed on challenging questions and hypotheses. The cross-semester project days were rounded off with a storytelling café. The focus here was on encounters and uncomplicated dialogue between the students.

Almost 60 students from the 1st to the 7th semester came together for three days in the various lecture theatres and seminar rooms to be "in action" together. The response was fantastic. The team of lecturers in the Social Management degree programme accompanied the programme with great enthusiasm - above all about unexpected skills, the special commitment of the students and the new identification as "Somas".

Initiator Anja Bachmann-Duscha looks back with fulfilment and satisfaction on the results, which were still vague ideas just weeks ago and have matured into professional event formats. Many opportunities for networked thinking, action and communication were created and thus also a contribution to a sustainable and modern form of study and teaching that enables experience-oriented learning and actively involves students in the content and organisational design. From students with students.